Philly extremely lucky to walk out of ORL a winner. Now they have Denver tomorrow on a b2b...what are the chances both Embiid and Harden rest? Both played over 41 minutes tonight. Embiid v. Jokic would be must-see.
The 76ers absolutely want Boston and Milwaukee to jump them and for them to finish in 4th place. That makes their path Chicago then Miami then Brooklyn or Milwaukee in the finals. I think either Brooklyn or Milwaukee will beat them (assuming Kyrie can play and Simmons does anything for them, but honestly the Simmons thing probably doesn’t even matter) so they might as well game it to avoid those guys as long as possible.
I know there's a narrative that somehow Harden doesn't need athleticism to be effective, but he absolutely needs his first step and hops to make layups against real defense. This is sad/unathletic version of Harden ain't gonna cut it on offense in the playoffs. He can barely get off the ground. He might be a great passer, but he also needs to score a ton for 76ers to have a chance.
Philly looks like a first round exit. They were better with Curry and Drummond. Maxey's growth will stop.
Well, no athlete is totally unaffected by aging. Some players' game may age better than others. Even LeBron can't play like he did 10 years ago. Harden is clearly at the tail end of his prime, if not past already. That said, I wouldn't write him off. It's just two games. He did really well for several games before that. This phenomenon is actually not new. He has done that from time to time. I used to call those mysterious games for Harden when it seemed that he suddenly lost himself on the court for stretches for no apparent reason. Most mentioned theory was fatigue. Another explanation was injury. But I never really believed those were the real reasons, at least not the main reasons. Now Harden himself has admitted that he would sometimes party all night before game day. That could be an explanation for his mysterious poor games. Some of his critics also pointed out that a lot of these games were pressure games, that Harden just crumbles under pressure. I think this theory has some merit but is not the whole story. While he did tend to have those bad games when a lot was on the line, there were also some random games that would not have any significance, like last night's game against Orlando. For whatever reasons, as Harden is getting older, it is likely that these bad games will be more frequent. If I were a Philly fan, I would be worried about this Mr. Hyde version of Harden appearing in crucial playoffs games. Embiid's health is also a concern. The good news for them is that they still have a pretty good supporting cast. But they need both Harden and Embiid in top form to contend.
You can't party as you did in your 20s in your 30s. Partying in general is probably a bigger issue for Harden than anyone is willing to admit. It shows that basketball is not as high of a priority for him as it needs to be so he can become a champion. It likely contributes to his health issues, no? I don't know how these guys live, but you probably need to go back to Jordan to find a champion that we know for a fact partied hard. Giannis, Kawhi, LeBron, Durant, Curry, Duncan, Dirk, Wade, Shaq, Kobe, Hakeem... am I missing anyone? None of those guys were notorious partiers like Harden.
I think aside from his careless turnovers or being lost, his physical decline is now really apparent. I think even last season, I see Harden do a lot of forced moves that he never used to do when he's with the Rockets because he can't get by his man cleanly. Specifically he now does this little weird half floater/chuck at the rim with no elevation, that he never makes on a consistent basis or just gets blocked. that's why his shooting percentage from 2 pointers is so down this season. I just think Harden is aging a lot worse than what people imagined. I think he will have his great games here and there when his 3's are falling, and he can attack whenever he feels like he can get a clean layup. His main strength used to be able to drive against tough defense and still score, I don't know if he has the athleticism to pull that off anymore. I don't know if it's really pressure or partying. I just think he needs to reinvent his body like CP3 did. CP3 had the same problem with us after the hamstring injury basically at the same age. In all of 2019 CP couldn't get past his man, can't make layups, just can't get his legs under him. But somehow he managed to gain back some explosiveness after a summer of dieting and different training. I timstamped the move I was talking about, he does it again at 1:55.
Harden changing the way Philly plays. Too much one on one and the rest of the guys just standing around. Harden and Embiid will have great stats, the rest of the team won’t.
They are clearly better with him. Why do you guys love to be ignorant when it comes to this man, I will never know why. Lmao and George Niang had MORE SHOTS THAN HARDEN
Shots are meaningless. Guys need to touch the ball to get into a rhythm. Standing around for 20 seconds waiting for a pass from Harden isn’t the way you get that.
